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7. Ship of the Month - cont'd. that she must have looked very attractive. While many steamers running on the lakes before the turn of the century were painted in rather drab manner with black hulls and smokestacks, Captain Bradley made his boats much more colourful. They had green hulls with white trim and white deckhouses, while their stacks were crimson, with a broad black smokeband at the top. The first casualty report we have concerning ALVA is that she suffered some relatively minor fire damage on August 8th, 1894, at Washburn, Wisconsin. Unfortunately, however, we have no other details. The brief report is car ried in Lake Superior Ship wre cks , by Dr. Julius H. Wolff, Jr., 1990. The following year, ALVA was involved in another a cci d e n t ,this one rather more serious in nature. Beers' History of the Great L a k e s , 1899, reported that ALVA was in collision with the whaleback barge 117 at the Soo during August of 1895. The circumstances of the incident were not reported, but it was noted that ALVA settled to the bottom, apparently in relatively shallow water. The fact that we have seen nothing else mentioned about this colli sion in other sources would indicate that ALVA must have been refloated easily and repaired and put back in service without undue delay. In the spring of 1908, the Bradley fleet put into commission its new steamer M. A. BRADLEY (31), (b) GRAHAM C. WOODRUFF (41), (c) FRED L. HEWITT (I ) (47), (d) EVERETTON, which was built as Hull 38 of the Great Lakes Engineering Works at Ecorse, Michigan, and launched on February 7th. This was the lar gest vessel ever operated by the Bradleys, and the last ship ever acquired by the fleet. That the M. A. BRADLEY was even built is something of a wonder because by that time, Morris Bradley had greatly reduced the size of the fleet, many of the older vessels having succumbed to old age or accident, and most of the rest having been sold to other operators. Indeed, by 1908, even the ALVA had been sold by Bradley, for the 1908 Great Lakes Register (Bureau Veritas) showed her as owned by the Chicago & Duluth Transportation Company, Chicago, of which J. O . Nessen was shown as general manager. That register showed the same fleet as operating the steamer W I L LIAM H. GRATWICK (II), and from this point onward, the careers of the two ships would run parallel until late in the 1924 season, when the former GRATWICK would meet her unfortunate demise. While running for the Chicago & Duluth fleet, ALVA had her hull painted black. The upper section of the forecastle (above the spar deck rail) was painted white, as were all of the cabins, and the stack was all black. The ship's name was in black on the forecastle, while the legend 'Chicago & D u luth Trans. C o . ' was painted in white below deck level and under the name. The management of Chicago & Duluth Transportation was soon taken over by Elphicke & Company, of Chicago. During 1911, ALVA was renamed (b) MINNETONKA and it was at the same time that the GRATWICK became (b) MINNEKAHTA. Our 1911 Young photo of MINNETONKA shows that by this time, under the company's name on her bow, she was carrying a white ring, around which in very small black (we believe) letters appeared the legend 'Lake Superior Steamers'. Not much is known about the operations of the Chicago & Duluth fleet, but undoubtedly the line carried package freight and bulk cargoes between Lakes Michigan and Superior. Wolff has reported that on September 3rd, 1911, M I N NETONKA and the Anchor Line passenger steamer JUNIATA had a minor collision at Duluth, but damage was minimal. In 1912, MINNETONKA was chartered to the Mutual Transit Company, of Buffalo, and for this service, her forecastle was painted black with only a white bead at spar deck level. The name 'Mutual Transit C o . ' was painted in large white letters on the deck rail abaft the break of the forecastle. When the charter was over, MINNETONKA was returned to her owner's service, but this state of affairs was not to last for long. Perhaps because of the cost of purchasing the ALVA and GRATWICK, but more likely as a result of the